Chapter 469

A gust of cold wind blew in through the thick door curtain, and Ci Fu walked in covered in snow.

The desk in the cabinet’s duty room was piled with official documents. The cabinet’s chief minister raised his head from the pile of documents, looked at the second minister who came in, waiting for him to speak.

“Prime Minister.”

The deputy assistant bowed deeply to him and then said, “The emperor said that the Marquis Zhongjing is the Minister of War, and all affairs in Liaodong are handled by him.”

The Prime Minister nodded, then lowered his head to read the official documents.

Second Assistant: “First Assistant.”

The Prime Minister did not raise his head: “It’s just a small defeat. The sky won’t fall.”

The second assistant gave a bitter smile. Losing nearly 30% of the troops in one battle, is this called a minor defeat?

“When will the main force of the Ruishi Battalion arrive in Guangning?” the Prime Minister suddenly asked.

The assistant thought for a moment and replied, “The day after tomorrow at the latest.”

Prime Minister: “Then there is nothing to worry about.”

After hearing this, Ci Fu didn’t know what to say, so he could only answer, “Yes,” and turned and walked out.

The Prime Minister stood up, walked to the window, looked at the snowflakes falling outside, his eyes full of worry and anxiety.

What he was really worried about was Mobei. Although he didn’t know who attacked the garrison, it must be related to the war on the front line. The military order of the Ministry of War has been sent to Hetao. I hope that the Yulin Guards stationed in Hetao can reinforce Xiuguogong in time!

Perhaps, the troops from Datong and Xuanfu should also leave the pass and head north immediately.

At this time, the third scholar came in from the gap of the cotton curtain, walked to the side of the chief minister, and bowed: “Chief Minister, the emperor has ordered the first scholar to return to the capital.”

The Prime Minister frowned. What was the point of calling that troublemaker back?
Tanhua Lang then said, “The emperor asked the chief minister to go to the Yangxin Palace to discuss matters.”

The Prime Minister turned around and asked, “What did you say?”

Tanhua Lang: “The Duke of Lu is here, I volunteer to fight.”

Prime Minister: “Voting for battle? Liaodong?”

Tanhualang: “Liaodong.”

The Prime Minister’s face changed. He took the cloak off the hanger, put it on himself, and walked out quickly.

The snow fell harder and the wind started to blow.

In the heavy snow, Dai Quan walked in from outside the Cining Palace carrying a food box.

When they reached the eaves outside the main hall, two young eunuchs on duty came out immediately, brushed off the snow on Dai Quan’s head and body, and took off his boots and replaced them with warm shoes.

Only then did Dai Quan walk into the hall carrying the food box.

When they entered the bedroom, the two eunuchs on duty knelt down immediately and said, “Your servants are here to greet Eunuch Dai.”

Dai Quan: “We don’t need you here anymore, wait outside the palace gate.”

The two eunuchs on duty said, “Yes.” and left the bedroom.

Dai Quan closed the door of the hall, turned around and walked to the small stove, took out a purple sand medicine jar from the food box, and carefully placed it on the small stove. Then, he looked at the sickbed.

Emperor Yongchang still lay on his sickbed motionless.

Dai Quan walked to the south window, glanced out, then took out a letter from his arms, tore it open and read it. His face suddenly became serious.

After reading the letter, he folded it gently and thought carefully.

This letter came from Shengjing, and it was a handwritten letter from King Kang.

King Kang actually found the spy lurking in Shengjing City and made such a request. Does he really want to serve the court, or does he act as Qian Xiaosi’s minion and wipe out the court’s intelligence network in Shengjing City?
Dai Quan walked back and forth. He still controlled a part of Emperor Yongchang’s intelligence network, especially those outside the Great Wall. He held all the important ones in his hands and did not hand them over to the emperor.

He entered the palace when he was young, and has been struggling in the Forbidden City for decades. Every pore in his body has become a mind, so how could he not hold back?

He knew very well that if a person had no value at all, he would be ruthlessly discarded, just like discarding a used chess piece. Now the opportunity came, but what should he do? !

Tell the emperor? The emperor wanted to kill King Kang immediately.

What if the emperor wakes up after King Kang dies? They are father and son, so the account will be settled on him in the end!
The Supreme Emperor?
Dai Quan suddenly stopped and looked at the emperor lying on the sickbed.

He had served the emperor for decades, so how could he not notice something unusual? And the little prince was still a child after all, so his little movements could not escape his eyes.

Thinking of this, he looked out the window and walked straight to the bedside.

Walking out of the Palace of Tranquil Longevity, Li Hu tightened his cloak, looked back at the Prime Minister who had just walked down the stone steps, snorted, and strode away.

The Prime Minister gave a bitter smile. He had completely offended Li Hu today!
He didn’t want to do this, but he had to do so for the sake of the Dashun country.

The emperor is in poor health and may die at any time.

In the Xishan Incident, a large number of military nobles were killed, and the royal family members also suffered heavy casualties. Now the Duke of Zhenguo is also dead. Once the emperor dies, Li Hu is destined to become the minister entrusted with the care of the orphan.

Li Hu now controls the Ruishi Battalion and Yongwei Battalion, one in the city and one outside. If he has bad intentions, the two armies will work together to break the capital. In addition, he has his generals outside the pass and in the Central Plains. We must be on guard!

That was why he took advantage of the emperor’s pride and suspicion at the imperial meeting to separate Li Hu and the Rui Shi Battalion.

Swords and guns are indiscriminate on the battlefield, and the Rui Shi Battalion is the main force to resist the Jurchen Tatars, so the casualties must be heavy. The battalion must be continuously replenished with new soldiers, and even elite troops can be directly drawn from the Shanhaiguan garrison for replenishment. After the war, the generals of the Rui Shi Battalion will be promoted and transferred, and a major reshuffle will be carried out in the Rui Shi Battalion, so that the Rui Shi Battalion can be controlled by the court again.

Without the support of the Sharp Warriors Battalion, the Brave Guard Battalion would not be able to cause any trouble.

However, the premise of all this is that the emperor can live longer so that his plan can be successfully completed.

Although he had stopped Li Hu’s request just now, he had to agree to Li Hu’s request. Five thousand Hetao cavalry, he really dared to ask for it!

After a lot of persuasion, he finally reduced the number of Hetao cavalry from 5,000 to 3,500.

The Prime Minister pushed away the umbrella handed to him by the eunuch, looked back at the West Warm Pavilion, and hoped that the emperor could live longer! Then he looked towards the north of the desert with worry, hoping that nothing would happen!

There is also heavy snow in Daqingshan.

The flying snow enveloped a group of people as they walked with difficulty on the snowy mountain path.

The person in the lead was Shui Rong, who had a gloomy face.

The sky was getting darker and darker, and in the vast snow curtain, all you could see were white mountains.

Shui Rong stopped.

The whole group stopped.

Shui Rong took out the map and looked at it, then looked around and clutched the map in annoyance. They were lost!
Shui Rong sighed and said loudly: “Keep moving forward!” He had just taken two steps when he was suddenly shocked!
From afar, shouts of “Master, Master” could be heard.

Shui Rong raised his hand to signal the people behind him to keep quiet, tilted his ear to listen quietly, and then turned around suddenly.

The shouting gradually came closer, becoming clearer and louder.

Shui Rong walked over quickly.

The group hurriedly chased after him.

Finally, Yang Qilong and others were seen through the snowflakes.

Yang Qilong also saw Shui Rong and quickened his pace. He bowed first and then explained, “I saw that the young master was late, so I brought people out to greet him. Why did you come back so late? Didn’t you see the Jurchen Tartars?”

Shui Rong coughed and said, “I saw it.”

Yang Qilong asked anxiously: “What do you mean? Are they willing to send someone?”

Shui Rong smiled: “Agui has no choice. We agreed to act together on Laba Festival!”

Yang Qilong was silent for a moment, then said, “Let’s wait until the Jurchens make a move before we respond. We don’t have many people left!”

Shui Rong thought for a moment and said, “Okay.” Then he walked in the direction where Yang Qilong came from.

(End of this chapter)